RyansWorld: New York City
Special Note: Please note that this scenario is meant to be read as entertainment, not as an accurate prediction of the future. Also note that the viewpoints and opinions that may come across in this scenario are not necessarily the viewpoints and opinions of the author. In the year 2105, New York City, New York, United States of Earth will have a population of 15 million people. The city will be divided into several levels. There will be a surface city for the working class people and conservative corporations. Wealthy people will live in a floating community called Neo-Manhattan that soars more than 1000 feet from the Earth (although a sizable amount will choose to remain on the surface), and the middle classes will live in the futuristic underwater level of the city. Cannabis becomes legal in New York City by 2045 and becomes a niche drug like electronic cigarettes were in 2014. By 2050, nearly all the hospitals in New York City will receive most of their funding by private-sector corporations. This is due to the fact that the government will start to invest less money on healthcare and the military and more money into space exploration and colonization. It doesn't help that the Universal Peace Charter of 2037 prevents humans from gaining jobs in combat positions for the military. Summary The World Trade Center will be completely reconstructed by the year 2031 and will once again be the largest building in New York City, showing its radiance on "Old Manhattan," as the people of the year 2105 will call the borough. The last Christian church will close just prior to the 22nd century due to attendance reasons and will be replaced by a movie theatre showing classic films from the 21st century in addition to vintage films from the year 1950 to the year 2000. All films created prior to the year 1950 (including the more common films like Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz) will be completely inaccessible to the average person and in the possesion of wealthy collectors by the year 2049; nine years after television becomes illegal. Out of the 15 million people living in New York City in the year 2105, 1.5 million of them were not born on Earth. Most of them are friendly extraterrestrials while others are humans who were born on either Mars or Venus, looking for a better life in one of the "cultured" cities of planet Earth. While factories and manufacturing plants will still exist (populated by nanobots and becoming the size of desktop computers), the main industries in New York City by the year 2105 will be electronics and tourism. These nanofactories will be built by businesspeople who can afford the cost of having several 3D printers working in tandem with a desktop computer and a local area network. While these home-based businesses will find ethical and moral backlash at first, they will be accepted as jobs for humans become less physical and more mental; according to Ray Kurzweil. Dr. Marlene VanGoethem, one of the greatest scientists of all time, graduated from Columbia University. The class of 2044 will forever be known as the "Class of Marlene VanGoethem" due to her perfect 5.0 grade point average and her position as the valedictorian. While at Columbia University, Marlene also played college soccer for the women's team. She majored in second-level calculus, the study of biology, and the study of outer space on a shoestring budget. The Good Friday riots of 2028 would ultimately see the complete absorption of New York City's Israeli-American population into new religions like Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, atheism and even Jain as the worldwide riots start to tear the fabric of their Judeo-Christian way of thinking apart forever. Restaurants Taco Bell, once a fast food franchise based around Americanized Mexican food, will become a premier five star dining franchise with cocktail food and erudite music. While Pizza Hut Bistro will join in on the conversion to fine dining, "rogue" dining places like McDonald's, Wendy's and Steak 'n Shake will continue to provide a casual atmosphere at low prices. Many of the places that never became fine dining will offer a simple meat/potato option along with a seasonally appropriate salad and/or a value dessert item. High fructose corn syrup and animal products will become strictly controlled by state, federal and municipal governments as the in vitro meat industry becomes wealthy enough to pay lobbyists. Producing meat from dead animals without using artificial hormones is one thing; but being able to grow meat without killing animals would be an outstanding accomplishment for human civilization. The New York area will be the second region to have their restaurants converted from fast food to fine dining, with only Los Angeles beating out New York City for this honor. Music from artists like Johann Sebastian Bach, Milton Babbitt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, Vincent D’Indy, Guillaume Dufay, George Gershwin, Josquin des Prez, Darius Milhaud, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Manuel M. Ponce, Arnold Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen and William Walton will once again become popular dining music for most bars, restaurants and nightclubs in New York City by the year 2105. Sports Professional wrestling, zero-gravity skating, occasional monster movie festivals, New York City FC fixtures for "American-style association football" and New York Giants/Jets gridiron football will entertain tourists of the future both young and old; regardless of species type and planetary origin. The New York Red Bulls, once the premier association football team of New York City, would move to Rochester, New York once New York City FC starts to gain a decent profit starting in the 2023 Major League Soccer season. The New York Mets decide to join the American League in the 2050 Major League Baseball team in order to create more exciting "Subway Series" matches against the New York Yankees. This forced the MLB Commissioner to move the Toronto Blue Jays to the National League; indirectly leading to its bankruptcy and folding after the 2074 Major League Baseball season. Life after Ebola While the Ebola pandemic of 2015 almost ruined tourism in New York City, the economic upsurge in the late 2010s with the boom in robotic jobs practically made up for the tourism losses done from late 2014 to late 2015. Unprecedented innovations in labor-saving technology were introduced. The capitalist system would bring its inevitable end due to an "economic plague which started sometime in the year 2037." Many nearby hamlets were abandoned as people chose to live more urban lives to required less fuel usage. Wages shot up and laborers could move to new localities in response to wage offers. Would you live in this version of New York City? Yes, I would like to live in this version of New York City. No, I would find it to be too stimulating for me. No, I would find it to be not stimulating enough for me. Yes, but I would have reservations about certain things in this city. Category:RyansWorld Category:Future Cities Category:Scenario Category:Canadamerica Category:United States of Earth